Chapter 1

Bryson (Present Day)

My heart clenchesin fear as we enter the burning structure knowing there are innocent people, no, children, trapped inside the domain. They’re depending on us to find and save them, only right now, as the smoke and flames surround me and my partner, Doss, I worry we won’t be in time. We’ve lost civilians in the past due to fires or car accidents, but somehow, the kids are so much more heartbreaking. I guess it’s because they haven’t begun to live yet. Maybe someday, I’ll discuss it with a therapist but today’s not that day.

“Cambridge, Doss, report,” our captain, Hughes, calls through our mics.

“Captain, we’re in the living area, appears fully engulfed, no civilians,” Doss states. “Moving toward the bedrooms now.”

“Mother says their bedroom is the first door on the right,” Hughes replies.

“On it, Captain,” I state, moving in that direction.

“Cory, Victoria, fire department, call out and we’ll come find you,” I bellow.

I know more of our team are already on the roof working to ventilate the house which will help clear the smoke and flames while we rescue the two little girls. I don’t understand why the mom didn’t get her kids, but then again, she did run through the burning living room with her infant son in her arms. It’s possible she couldn’t find them, and as young as the baby is, he likely wouldn’t have survived the smoke inhalation. About the only thing good about the whole situation is over the roar of the flames, and the hiss I can hear from the water hitting them, is the strident sound of multiple smoke alarms blaring.

So many people disengage their smoke alarms which sometimes costs them their lives. Yes, they can be annoying, especially when they have a battery backup, and the battery is dying. But it’s a small price to pay to climb up on a step ladder and swap out the old for a fresh one. Hell, we even have a community program where we not only give out new fire alarms every spring and fall, but we’ll also come out and check them if a person is elderly or disabled, or possibly a single parent. Our focus is on keeping our community as safe as we possibly can, and because we’re a small town, we’re able to do these things without any issue. Larger towns and cities have a harder time, I’m sure, but I know some have similar programs.

We arrive at the bedroom door, and I open it, Doss going low since kids like to hide in corners, under beds, and in closets when they’re scared. I head to the closet and as I slide the closet open, I hear a whimper and holler for Doss, who immediately rushes to my side.

“Hey, are you Cory and Victoria?” I ask, bending down to look at both little girls. “We’re from the fire department. How about we get you two out of here and back to your mom?”

One of them nods and raises her arms toward me, as Doss picks up the other one. We both work to wrap our fire-retardant coats around them, pressing their faces close to our chests so they don’t breathe in any more smoke than they already have. As we make our way back through the house, I see a few more of our team inside, hoses spraying the open flames and putting them out to allow us to get to safety.

We breach the front door and immediately, the paramedics are taking both girls from us as we both gulp in fresh air, having put our oxygen on the two girls. I can hear their mother as she breaks down completely, sobbing and thanking us for saving her babies. Unable to speak as coughing is wracking my body, I nod and watch as both girls grin at me through the masks the paramedics have put over their little faces. Both are soot covered but alive and that means today has been a good day for us.

“Let’s get you two checked out,” Hughes says. I raise my brow only for him to state, “It’s not an option, Cambridge. Y’all came out without your masks and need to be checked for smoke inhalation.”

Instead of arguing, I walk alongside Doss to the waiting ambulances and sit on the step up as a paramedic immediately slaps an oxygen mask on my face before she takes my vitals. While she works, I watch as the rest of my team battles the inferno while another fire company covers the other houses on either side of the one currently burning.

“I hate how close developers build homes these days,” I mumble, my words likely garbled because of the mask.

Their desire to make as much money as possible means that a lot of the subdivisions that have cropped up around town are so close, a person could reach their arm out of a window and almost touch the next house. That’s not something I’m interested in at all. Give me some wide-open space, with a little land so I can maybe put in a garden and get some chickens, and I’ll be content. I don’t want to live in a place where HOA rules tell me what I can and can’t do, like paint my house a certain color or have flowers and shrubbery they don’t approve of, or hell, even what flags they’ll allow to be hung and flown. I’m not about that cookie-cutter life, which is probably another reason why my marriage didn’t survive. Tasha had no interest in the old farmhouse I inherited from my grandparents, while I didn’t want to live so close to my neighbor that if I burped or farted, they’d hear me.

However, the paramedic must understand because she nods while continuing to do her thing. I’m unsure why I need an IV, but I have basic skills whereas she’s gone further in her training, so I won’t argue.

“They definitely do,” she replies. “Your vitals are stable, but you still need to get checked out at the hospital since they can do things there I’m unequipped to handle.”

“Such as?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe a chest X-ray?” she teases. “Now, hop on in, we’ll get you transported, plus, I can get you hooked up to the heart monitor, which I can’t do here.”

“Fine, fine,” I grumble, turning to step into the ambulance. Once I’m prone on the gurney, she gets inside and closes the door, as the driver gets into the driver’s seat.

“Alright, let’s get this party started,” she says, hooking up the EKG lines. I start hearing the steady beep of the monitor as the driver takes off, the sirens blaring. She swaps out my oxygen mask for a cannula and hands me a nebulizer treatment since I’m still coughing. Hell, at this point, I think we should be seeing lungs, I’ve hacked so hard.

I’ve only been on this side of things a handful of times in my career, and I have to say, I hate it.

* * *

Walking into my house, I toss the paperwork from the hospital on the side table that tends to catch all the detritus of my life and immediately head to my bedroom. I need a shower to get all the soot and smoke off of me before I figure out what I’m going to do with the next week since apparently, I inhaled more smoke than I thought I did. At least I’ll still be paid thanks to our union rules. It’s considered an on-the-job injury, similar to what civilians have in Worker’s Compensation, but when we’re pulled from work, we receive full pay, not a portion like regular people get. Guess it’s a decent perk for being someone willing to risk their lives and rush into a burning building.

“Fucking great,” I grumble as I strip and toss my clothes into the overflowing hamper. Glancing at it, I continue my monologue since there’s no one here to listen to me. “Guess I can do laundry at least.”

It’s my least favorite chore as evidenced by the fact that I have piles of clothes and linens littering the floor that fell out of the hamper. I snicker thinking about how all of it will be done and my house will be clean since I get to sit on my ass. About the only thing I’ll have to do is run my uniforms over to the dry cleaner since there’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to iron the seams good enough to suit anyone, let alone my captain. He’s a stickler for crisp uniforms, even though by the end of our shifts, we end up looking like we wrangled a bear in a pile of rich, black earth. Hell, maybe I’ll get the yard mowed too.

The thought briefly crosses my mind as I enter the bathroom and turn on the shower that perhaps I should look into a landscaping company. We work forty-eight-hour shifts and are then off seventy-two, but typically, the first day is spent catching up on my rest. Sure, I have a bunk at the station, but with alarms dropping whenever there’s a fire or incident we have to respond to, and the fact that I share with my team, my rest is definitely not good.

Yeah, maybe a landscaping company isn’t a bad idea. I can also see if they’ll till up the area where my grams used to plant her yearly garden so I can get on that as well. I’ve been slowly renovating the place, but I enjoy fresh vegetables, and it’s relaxing to sit outside and get my hands dirty. I need to look at some chicken coops as well. The old ones were in bad shape so that was the first thing I did when I moved in, I tore them down. But memories of spending weekends and summers with my grandparents, helping around the property, grabbing the eggs and feeding the chickens, have me wanting to recreate it, if only for myself.

As I step under the spray, I let out a groan as my muscles loosen under the heat. Already, the steam is filling the bathroom while I stand there and let the pounding water soothe my aching body. After long minutes, I quickly wash then step out, my goal now to eat something and fall into bed to sleep this day away.

Grabbing the laundry basket, I trudge into the kitchen, then quickly sort my clothes and start a load. Before I make something to eat, I go in and grab the rest of the laundry that was on the floor and take it in so it can be sorted as well. Satisfied that at least something is started, I head to my fridge to see what I can put together.

“Hmm, need to grocery shop for sure,” I mumble as I peruse the contents of my somewhat empty refrigerator. “Well, sounds like a ham and cheese omelet is on the menu.” I have everything out and am in the process of putting it together when I spot a package of diced bell pepper as well as some onion. “Oh yeah, this is gonna work.”

As my food cooks, I unload the dishwasher then refill it. After I eat, I’ll add the dishes I used then start that, so another chore is done and marked off my to-do list. Grams was a stickler about her kitchen, and those habits haven’t died yet, so after flipping my omelet, I wipe down the counters and start a grocery list. Years ago, Grams found a place that created grocery lists so you could just check off what you needed. She bought so many of them, that even now with them being gone for almost five years, I still have plenty.

While I eat, I mentally go through what I know is in the fridge, as well as the pantry. I might as well do some meal prepping so when I get home from my shift, I can just toss something into either the microwave or oven and know it’s not a processed meal. Being a firefighter, I have to stay physically fit, so I monitor what goes into my body, and work out several times a week. Thankfully, we have a fully equipped gym at the station, so I don’t have to try and fit it into my schedule. On my off days, I typically run five miles, plus I eat as healthy as possible.

Once I’m done and the kitchen is back to normal, I swap the laundry, putting in the next load, then head to my bed. I’m so beyond exhausted that instead of remaking my bed, I simply strip the sheets off and flop, face down, onto the mattress pad. With sleep encroaching, my last thought is of the two little girls Doss and I managed to save earlier in the day.

It was a good day.